The Price of War
by TrustMeIt'sBad
Summary: Worldwide war looms on the horizon, and the prospect of Global annihilation spurs the CIA to look elsewhere for military needs. A long lost file is brought up on a national secret, the gods. Formerly Special Operations Group.
1. The Letter

To Perseus Cole Jackson,

The CIA has known your secret for over twenty years. We are aware that a race of dominating Gods right above New York City.

We are desperate. We need your fighting skills elsewhere. The threat of the Titans has ended. We would gladly accept you and your demigod allies help in the issue with the Creole nations. If a weapons agreement cannot be made by December 20, 2012, we _will_ go to extreme measures.

We have a sleeper agent at Camp Half-Blood. Unless he was compromised in the Titanic War. His name was Charles Beckendorf. We haven't heard from him in a great while.

The need for paramilitary is at hand. You may join the **Special Operations Group**, or **SOG,** a division that handles paramilitary, black operations and covert operations. The **Political Action Group**, or **PAG**, handles politics, but we needn't get into that.

We expect a reply from you very soon, Mr. Jackson.

_Frederick Hassinger,_

Secretary of Defense

_Yvonne Henri,_

Deputy Director of National Intelligence

_Dennis W. McQuarters,_

President of the United States

_Gary Thomas Harriman,_

Director of National Intelligence


	2. The Effing CIA

"**The Effing CIA"**

**March 12 14:56:08**

**Percy Jackson**

**CHB, leader of**

**Montauk Beach, New York**

"…And that is the reason we are gathered here." Chiron finished reading the letter aloud.

It was March 12. It was an odd day for all the known demigods in existence to be gathered at Camp Half-Blood. At the moment, the representatives from each Cabin were sitting around the ping-pong table, along with 5 minor half-bloods.

Percy Jackson got the letter in the mail the day before, and he knew it didn't bode well. Everyone knew that the Creole nations were building WMDs, but all the president had done was set a deadline for an agreement.

Dennis McQuarters wasn't exactly what you'd call an _active _president. He hadn't proposed any laws and vetoed all the laws that came back around. Anything that McQuarters actually put his name on was considered official.

"I don't quite understand," Katie Gardner said, running her fingers through her hair.

"Was Beckendorf a _sleeper agent _for the effing CIA?" Travis asked, getting excited. "He must've had some serious gadgets. Spying equipment, the works!"

Jake Mason shot it dead. "I don't think so. I think that's just an empty threat. I never saw anything that'd point in that direction."

"I didn't understand half that letter," Butch from Iris said.

Percy grumbled something. "What was that, Percy?" Nico asked. Percy had a feeling Nico was serious.

"Just ask Annabeth," Percy repeated, "she knows everything there is to know about the CIA. I bet she could give you a biography on the DNI, Gary Harriman."

Annabeth turned red on the other side of the table. All eyes were on her. "Well," she said, "I do know a few things about SAD and the SOG, if it'll help.

"SAD is the Special Activities Division."

"That makes it sound like a station at a day care." Travis muttered.

"It takes, well, paramilitary action. Paramilitary men are soldiers that aren't real American soldiers, just agents to the CIA. I guess… the best way to describe it is this: did anyone here ever play Black Ops? On Campaign?"

Most of the male hands in the room went up.

"Those guys aren't real soldiers. They're part of a CIA agency."

Travis raised his hand. "What about Hudson and Weaver? Woods? Bowman? Reznov? Was Mason in the CIA?"

Annabeth looked confused, but nodded. Jake Mason spoke up. "Reznov wasn't even there with Mason. He was hallucinating, remember? They effed him up real bad in Vorkuta."

Will Solace laughed. "Oh, right… Dragovich got him to assassinate Kennedy."

"Okay, this conversation is taking a bad turn." Percy said.

Chiron stamped his hoof. "Basically, the CIA is asking us for help. They want us to send troops in the SOG. Which will _not _happen."

Oddly enough, Travis spoke up. "As cool as it would be to sneak around, killing people in a ninja-like fashion, sure as hell I'm not going to. I mean, what's the minimum age for recruitment now? Like, 14?"

"18." Percy corrected.

"I'm not going to support that. That's ridiculous. We'll have no more men by the end of the war. McQuarters is being an idiot, like usual."

"I don't know what the CIA is playing at," Percy said, "but read the letter over again. It doesn't look like SAD is giving us much of a choice. It basically said, 'You're joining a SOG team. Report to action soon.' I might be crazy… but I think I might have to go."

"Percy," Chiron warned.

"No, sir. I feel like I have to do this."

The silence hung over the room. "I'm in." Will Solace finally said. "I know, I'm insane."

Clarisse folded next, but Percy knew she really wanted to skewer a few people. Then Mason… then Butch.

Pollux faltered, but eventually raised his hand, which was trembling. "We're not forcing you to do this." Percy said.

Pollux swallowed. "No. I – I want to try."

Chiron looked at Pollux, critically. "I'd like to try, too." Nico said.

"But you're too young," Percy pointed out.

Nico patted a ping-pong paddle against his hand. "I bet we have more fighting experience than half of the Army. They won't mind."

Conner looked up from something. "Oh! I volunteer me and Travis."

"What?" Travis cried.

"Is that nine?" Percy asked. Chiron nodded.

A boy named Marcus Derringer from the Heracles Cabin volunteered. "I'll do it," Annabeth volunteered.

Percy let out a big breath.

Two girls entered the room. "We got the…news." One of them said, gasping for air. "You guys need a few more soldiers?"

Percy smiled. Annabeth jumped up. "Thalia!" She said, excitedly.

Thalia hugged Percy and Annabeth briefly, before turning to Chiron. "Is it true? The government knows? And they want our help? Shocking. Most nothing ever gets done anymore."

Chiron nodded. "Yes, unfortunately. Eleven have already volunteered to go off. I presume you are here to do the same? Along with Phoebe?"

"Yes. We told Artemis, and some red-headed former mortal is leading the Hunt now. Think her name was Nancy Bobofit or something."

Percy's eyes widened.

"Anyways, we're here. Make it thirteen."

Chiron looked back at the letter. "We'll need more." He said, simply. He pressed an intercom button. "Hello, Camp. Would any male campers with 3 or more years of training please report to the Big House, please? Thank you."

Within fifteen minutes, 10 to 15 boys were in the rec room, which was getting crowded. A very large boy asked, "Why are we here?"

Percy held up the letter to the boy. The boy took a quick look at it. He gave a look to the thirteen, then nodded. "For sure."

Clarisse sat up. "Are you sure, Mark?"

Mark smiled, "Enough, Clarisse. Your younger bro can handle himself."

Mark took a seat.

"As for the rest of you, this is _very _dangerous. I will highly urge you not to partake. I cannot stress enough that-"

"What?" A boy named Mitchell asked. He was a son of Aphrodite, and picked on mercilessly. He'd been trying to earn some merit for awhile… he was downright abused by the counselor.

Chiron took one look at him, and threw in the towel. "It isn't for you, son." He said, flatly.

"No! I mean, uh…" Mitchell faltered.

Percy said, "Listen. You guys would have to be insane to join us. There is nearly NO chance one of us will get through this, unmaimed. I mean… well, basically, I've been drafted. And the letter said to bring allies."

"Yeah. Apparently the whole situation is a lot worse than we thought." Thalia put in, absentmindedly fiddled with her silver charm bracelet, Aegis.

"According to the letter, the government knows of the gods." Clarisse said. "Doesn't surprise me, really. I mean, they have to have some good secrets."

"Like Area 51," Percy said.

"Who shot Kennedy," Mason said.

"How Jimmy Kimmel is still on the air," Travis said, just getting warmed up.

"How the hell Shaq Twitters with such huge thumbs," Conner put in, smiling devilishly.

"And how they put the hole in the donut." Will concluded.

"Enough of that!" Annabeth said. "How can you guys joke at a time like this?" Percy realized that she was jittery and nervous. Couldn't blame her, really. Malcolm walked over, and began to talk to her quietly.

"Anyways!" Clarisse shouted hoping to get the matter at hand back in the front seat. "Is anyone here willing to do this?"

"Clarisse," Chiron protested, "It isn't that bland. It's a difficult decision, and-"

Malcolm, Chris Rodriguez and Mitchell all made a move towards the table. They found empty seat and squee-geed themselves in. Percy couldn't help but smile. He'd expected to be the only one.

A boy from Ares, a boy from Apollo, and a boy from Hephaestus all sat down. Percy did the quick math… 20 people.

This was going to be one _interesting _vacation.


	3. Out of the Frying Pan

**"Out of the Frying Pan..."**

**March 14 05:36:13**

**Capt. Perseus Jackson**

**SOG: Team Echo Five**

**Washington, D.C.**

Percy Jackson had been to Washington before.

But this time, he was a team of 3 other demigods. These demigods were his helicopter buddies. In it was Thalia (which Percy was grateful for), Malcolm, and Mitchell, that poor lost son of Aphrodite. You can't fit twenty teenagers into a helicopter - it just doesn't fit.

This time, he was being called "Captain Jackson". This time, he was in a freaking helicopter.

This time, he was responsible for his country.

He'd never given his country much thought. During the Titan War, he was in it for his family. He was in it for the welfare of the planet. He fought for the gods. But now he was a soldier. A military man. A freedom fighter. He fought for the United States. For the welfare of American people. For his countrymen.

It was a new and... oddly exhilarating feeling.

"Captain Jackson, we will be landing any second," said the helicopter pilot. His name was Glasco. "I would recommend strapping in."

Percy fiddled with his tie, nervously. He was afraid Zeus would zap him out of the sky, but with Thalia in the cabin of the aircraft with him, he wasn't worried. And about the tie - Chiron had advised they dress nicely. Percy had borrowed a tux from his stepfather, Paul. His mother was horrified when the letter came in, but gave Percy her consent when she found out how strongly he felt about it.

Percy must have looked awful, because Thalia put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll do fine, Seaweed Brain." Percy flinched. He still didn't like it when she said that. "You're crazy not to be nervous."

Thalia had (after many hours of arguing) agreed to dress up as well. She was wearing a very un-Thalia skirt and some sort of shirt that Percy didn't know the name of. The other two guys were wearing suits.

Mitchell banged his head against the side of the chopper. "Ahh... I'm starting to think that this was a bad idea for me to come."

Every gave him a look that said, _well, duh, _but Glasco peeked his head around his seat. "Kids. We've landed."

Percy glanced out of a window. What he saw gave him chills. He'd never seen the Pentagon, not even in a photograph. But he could see why it was called that - the building was a flat pentagon. People hustled and bustled in and out, and lights seemed to be everywhere.

Percy felt his throat his throat go dry. Maybe Mitchell was right. Maybe this was a bad idea.

Glasco stood up and led the apprehensive demigods outside. Percy saw the other five choppers land, and saw the other half-bloods jump onto the pavement. He spotted his girlfriend, Annabeth. He met her eyes and gave her a goofy smile. She tried to return, but the smile looked more nervous than anything.

Glasco led the twenty towards the pentagon. Every so often, an official would stop them. All Glasco had to say was "It's echo five", which always earned him a pass through.

The inside of the Pentagon was a blur to Percy, who was walking with Annabeth. Annabeth practically bounced off the walls. She kept pointing to portraits on the walls, saying their names and, in most cases, their godly parents. At least she was having fun.

In no time, Percy was shaking hands with the president.

"Mr. Jackson." McQuarters said, with a sly smile on his face. Percy disliked him instantly. The president had a sort of aura on him that made Percy uneasy... he couldn't describe it.

Percy's twenty friends sit around him at a huge table, much bigger than the ping pong table back at Camp. The DNI spoke up.

"You know why you're here." Gary Harriman said. "You know what we want." He spread his arms around the room. "Your country needs you."

Clarisse stood up. Percy knew immediately she was about to do something irrational. "When do we start? I didn't join up to go to meetings and shake hands with stuck up people."

Harriman's nostrils flared. "Miss la Rue, you will be sent to a base to begin your training in the morning."

"What kind of weapons will we be using?" Asked an unidentified son of Ares.

Harriman blinked. "Well, the standard firearms and explosives. What were you expecting, swords and shields?"

All of the demigods shared a look. "We've been trained with swords and shields, sir." Percy said.

McQuarters laughed a grating cackle. "Well then it appears you need some proper training! Good thing you start soon."

"Why are we here?" Annabeth asked, speaking for everyone.

Harriman pulled a file out of a briefcase and tossed it to a confused Percy. On it was a man's smiling mug. "You're here to stop the conflict before it starts and take out this man."

"Who is it?"

"Nikolai Symanov. Ukrainian terrorist. You know of the car bomb near the Eifell Tower last fall?"

Most of the half-bloods nodded.

"It was Symanov's work." Harriman looked at the man's photo with hate. "You... will get this man. Dead or alive, I don't care."

The DNI looked at the soon-to-be SOG team with a bit of doubt. "You'll be sent to the base tomorrow. I expect only the best from you, half-gods."

Jake Mason snarled, "It's _demigod._"

The president readjusted in his seat. "Whichever." He said. Percy now realized McQuarters reminded him intensely of his old camp director, Mr. D.

Percy stood up and once again shook hands with the president and Mr. Harriman. Shaking hands with people was getting extremely old. Glasco reappeared at the door and led the team back to the choppers. This time the helicopters took them to a nearby airport. A plane would take them to this base.

The plane ride gave Percy time to think. He was thinking about the promises he'd made to his mother after the Titan War. He actually remembered the exact words he said to his mom: _This is the last war I'll fight in._

Gods, he was a hypocrite.

He sighed. Maybe leaving his demigod life behind for a bit was a good thing. But Percy realized there would be no difference. He would face death. The only difference were the tools of destruction.

Out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

* * *

**A/N: I won't do these much, but I have an offer for anyone who wants to take it. You know the three unnamed kids? If you have an OC you would like to see, then I will accept it.**

**But here's the bottom line:**

**Because I already said that those kids are sons of Apollo, Hephaestus, and Ares, they have to be one of the three. As for the format... I don't care.**

**And for a morbid note, if you don't like character death, then I would not read this story. There will be canon characters that will die.**

**- TrustMeIt'sBad**


	4. Underachiever

**"Underachiever"**

**March 23 19:34:11**

**Capt. Perseus Jackson**

**SOG: Team Echo Five**

**Team Echo Base - Location 'Prospero'.**

The SOG base was nothing that Percy expected.

He was expecting a bunch of old, stoic war heroes who told stories of charging up a hill and how they received each of their scars. He definitely was _not _expecting a ton of carefree guys in their early twenties who had nothing else on their minds other than messing around if they weren't on mission.

Percy learned early on how the team worked. The whole base was for Team Echo, a platoon-sized group of Special Forces. The platoon was divided into five different strike teams, the demigods being Team Echo Five. Captains led each strike team.

It was a bit awkward when a bunch of kids showed up as the old team's new squad-mates, but when Percy and Glasco explained that they were half-gods, the old team accepted them – in a way.

Most of the members of the other strike teams doubted the demigod's powers, but Percy kindly proved it by levitating a guy's water out of his water bottle. Soon the mortals believed them.

Even more awkward was when Percy was immediately promoted to Captain. He had to be a Captain to lead Echo Five. He saw soldiers from other teams give him glares. He had been told by Glasco – who was a Captain himself, and he led Echo Two – that becoming a Captain was a grind. Most soldiers had to toil in the ranks for a long time before promotion, so the more experienced soldiers would be jealous.

And they were.

But at the moment, Percy was leading his team through the base's obstacle course. It had two sections – the Over & Under and the Wall. Percy had the wall down, but it was the O&A that killed his time.

Annabeth was shouting to the demigods to work faster. She had more or less become the unofficial Drill Sergeant for the team. Percy couldn't help but agree that the role fit her well.

Usually, Percy would be up there with her. Since he was Captain, he didn't actually have to run the course, but he didn't want to seem like a pompous jerk that didn't care.

He was teamed with Will Solace for the O&A because Will was pretty good at it. Percy figured this would help him improve this time.

Will climbed over first. He got to the top with ease. Now it was Percy's turn. The point of the O&A was to test the soldier's strength. Will reached a hand down to Percy. Will was to pull Percy up. Then for the second bit of the test, Percy would go first and pull up Will.

The got through the O&A and proceeded to the Wall. Percy led the Will to a table, where they both quickly snatched up a pistol.

Percy didn't like the loud noise or the general feeling of firearms. He'd much rather bring out Anaklusmos and hack his way through the cardboard targets, but he wasn't half bad with guns and he knew that learning how to use them quickly was necessary.

Will and Percy mowed through the targets and sprinted a quarter mile to the finish, where Glasco was waiting for them.

"Good time, Jackson." Glasco said. Annabeth walked up from behind them.

"I wouldn't exaggerate, Captain." She said. "That was his best time, and it still only makes third on the Echo Five."

Percy felt miffed. "You don't call _me _Captain."

Annabeth ignored him and said, "What's the deal?"

Glasco looked grimly at Percy. "Solomon wants to meet with you."

Percy wasn't sure if it was good or bad. Solomon was the guy who was in charge of Echo. Percy had never actually met Solomon, but he had heard a bit about him. Apparently he was a pretty "chill" guy.

"Good or bad?" Percy asked.

Glasco shrugged. "Not sure. But Solomon is alright. He's just kind of... strict. Stoic, I should say."

"Alright. I'll see him in his office, then?"

Glasco nodded and jogged off to rejoin his team.

Annabeth elbowed him in the ribs. "Well, I'd get going, Seaweed Brain."

Percy rubbed his ribs, but he had a smile on his face. It was nice to mess around like old times again. "That's _Captain _Seaweed Brain to you, Private.

Now Annabeth punched him, but it was still a bit playful. She gave him a swift kiss on the cheek quick after, and pushed him away. "Get going, _Captain._"

That's better, Percy thought, as he walked towards the command area of the base, which was situated right in the middle, near the barracks. Oh, that was another cool thing about Echo Base. Each soldier had his (or her) own room.

In Percy's opinion, this place was cool. But not Camp Half-Blood cool.

A few guys from Echo One shouted to Percy, but he waved them off. His thoughts were trained on Solomon. Percy knew that Solomon was important to the team. So it was important to get on his good side.

Solomon's office was a small building next to the main section of the barracks. It was a rundown-looking brick building. Percy frowned, unsure whether or not just to push the door in, but he did.

A man in his fifties was behind the desk. He had sand-colored hair and had his face in a stack of reports.

"Colonel?" Percy asked, uncertainly.

Solomon looked up. "Captain Jackson. I have been anxiously awaiting this meeting."

Percy snapped off a quick salute and shook Solomon's hand. Solomon gestured to the seat across from the desk, and Percy sat.

"How is your team progressing?" Solomon asked, putting down his report.

Percy sat up a bit straighter. "Pretty well. A lot faster than I had expected. They're natural-born warriors."

"Ah." Solomon said, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I forgot about that." He reached under his desk and brought something out. Percy recognized it as some sort of uniform, with a vest-type thing on top. "This is yours."

Percy held it up. The vest had tons of pockets and spaces for small items. The uniform was pretty basic - no camouflage, just a tan long sleeved shirt that was reinforced with Kevlar. The pants were black, with more pockets for holding small objects.

Solomon put his hand on the vest. "This is your utility vest. It holds all of your equipment - grenade, explosives, knives, whatever. It also provides limited protection. The pants have a holster for your sidearm."

Percy held up the vest. "This weigh a lot?" he asked.

Solomon smiled for the first time. "I remember back when I was a Private. On my first mission, it felt like I dragging along a bowling ball in my pants."

"I see." Percy said, as he dropped the vest. "When do we get our first mission?"

Solomon gestured to a map that was tacked to a cork board. There was writing all over it, along with strings linking one place to another, making the world look like a complex network. A lot the string were coming to a pinpoint at a place on the map.

"In a few weeks, I plan on sending you guys and Echo Four to a coastal town in the Creole Nations. Easy first mission. Destroy the SAM site there to allow to the Marines to run Reconnaissance helicopters over Capital City."

Percy nodded slowly, taking that in. Go to town, kill missile sites, go back to base. Seemed easy enough.

"Everyone except Angelo, that is." Solomon said.

Percy frowned. "Why not Nico?"

"We couldn't get away with using kids less than eighteen. It's just won't be good for the success of the mission."

Percy felt anger rising in him. "Then why did you bother taking him? He can just leave, you know. He's a son of Hades, he can disappear into darkness."

Solomon eyes brightened a bit. Glasco was right when he pegged this guy as stoic. He never displayed emotion, so it was hard to peg exactly what he was thinking."Maybe he should disappear for awhile. Call him back when he is needed."

"What are we, expendable?" Percy said, feeling his voice rise. "Is that your approach? 'When someone dies, replace him?'"

Solomon merely glared at him. "I would sit down, Captain."

That was all it took for Percy to calm down. Solomon was clearly not a man to cross, even if Percy didn't agree with him. "Okay, sir." Percy said, though he felt a bit lame.

"Good. Now go back to your team."

Percy grabbed his uniform and snapped off another salute before leaving the building. He went next door to the barracks, where he dropped his uniform off at his room. He looked down at the attire he had on at the moment. An olive green shirt and army fatigue pants. He wasn't styling much these days, huh?

He heard a knock on the door, but whoever knocked let himself in. It was Nico.

"Hey, Percy." He said, but then he frowned. "Captain. Whatever. I, uh,_ overheard_ that conversation you had with Solomon. I think I agree with him. So I'm disappearing off to the Underworld for awhile."

Percy nodded. "Good luck, Nico."

"Stay alive, Jackson." And Nico left the room.

Percy laid down on his bed, exhausted. He picked up the top of his uniform. On it was what expected - _Jackson, SOG**,**_ blah blah blah - but he kept looking at the Captain's insignia on the shoulders.

The insignia he didn't feel he deserved.

* * *

**Well, hello! As you can see, I have changed the title to "The Price of War" because I didn't want a title related to the plot. You'll see what I mean later. And I still am accepted the son of Apollo and the son of Hephaestus. Son of Ares is already by a person who's name I can't remember because I am a jerk.**

**This is the last chapter of the introduction and the next chapter will be in a different POV. THe action will start soon, don't worry.**

**- TrustMeIt'sBad**


	5. Bad First Date

**"Bad First Date"**

**April 16 08:12:45**

**Pvt. Mitchell Bell**

**SOG: Team Echo Five**

**Creole Nations**

Mitchell was nervous.

Picture this: you have a math test on Monday morning. This test counts for 90% of your grade for the semester. But you forgot to study. It's 100 questions, and you have about a half an hour to do it.

Multiply that by level of nervousness by fifty, and you probably still can't imagine what Mitchell felt at that moment.

His slightly shaking hands were clutching a small gun that he couldn't identify at the time because he couldn't see straight. He was absentmindedly fiddling with his mask, and the four other demigods around him were giving him resentful looks.

Those demigods were his fire team for that mission. It consisted of Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, Pollux McGowan, and a son of Ares who Mitchell couldn't identify. Everyone except Percy had masks on.

Oh, yeah. They were in a submarine.

They couldn't get to the SAM (surface-to-air-missile) with a helicopter, because... well, it was kind of obvious. The SAM would shoot it down as soon it got close. So they entered the area via water, an idea suggested by Percy.

Easy for him to say. He could breathe underwater for gods' sake.

Mitchell was a useless son of Aphrodite. He could speak French and make most girls go head over heels for him. But that was it.

The only great son of the love god Mitchell could think of was Aeneas, but he was infamous for sparking Rome, who later on crushed Greece. Still, Mitchell looked up to Aeneas as someone who was exactly the kind of person he wished he could be - a brave, strong, heroic son of Aphrodite.

If he was brave or heroic, than Percy Jackson was a satyr.

The reason he'd volunteered for this was because he wanted to see if he could be a competent soldier; that he could be useful, and somewhat brave.

But sitting here, about to burst into tears like a six year-old, Mitchell knew he had made a mistake. He doubted that crying was brave or competent. He was pretty sure that meant weakness.

Percy gave a sigh and picked up the M4 that was next to him. "Two minutes, guys. Suppressors in."

Mitchell did as Percy told him. He screwed the silencing tool onto his gun. The forty special force troops had been briefed before they boarded the subs. Basically, they had to destroy the SAM and get out without being seen or found out. The suppressors would hide muzzle flash and reduce the sound.

Mitchell uncertainly clipped his gun onto his belt. Percy had reassured Solomon - the head honcho - that while under Poseidon's blessing, no one would get wet, nor would their equipment be destroyed. Even the mortals were water-proof.

Mitchell put on his helmet (which weighed about a million pounds) and slid on his vest and flak jacket. His air tank went on too. The entire get-up weighed a ton - like, a _lot _more than traditional Greek armour. Mitchell grabbed everything he needed out of a box - grenades, nine-bangs, and a sidearm, which he slid into his holster.

He felt like the wimpiest commando ever.

Percy received something through his radio and gave a nod to his group of soldiers. "This is as far as they can take us. Let's go.

Mitchell stood up shakily and passed through the first doorway. Once the door shut behind him and the others, the next door opened and water surged into the lock. Mitchell touched his arm, and was amazed that it wasn't wet.

Maybe this Blessing of Poseidon was legit.

Percy waded out into the water first. They were about forty under water, which was deep enough to make Mitchell feel queasy. Percy pointed up with his thumb up, and Mitchell followed.

When they broke the surface, Mitchell assessed the situation. They had surfaced under a pier, and they were about 30 yards from land. He could hear people talking in a foreign language on top of them.

Percy shut his eyes as he formulated a plan. "Okay. I'll take the one at the far end. Lowell, you take the middle," he said, as he pointed to the son of Ares, "and Mitchell, you take the close one. On my go."

Mitchell looked nervously at Pollux, who gave him a cheeky thumbs-up. Mitchell sighed and drew his knife.

Mitchell waded as silent as possible over to the near guard. The demigod felt his stomach drop when he thought about what he was about to do, but waiting silently for Percy to give the word.

"Now!" Mitchell reached up and grabbed the guard by the back of his vest. After a brief underwater struggle, Mitchell's knife found the guards throat.

Mitchell watched the body sink into the water, and felt more disgusted with himself than he had ever before. He looked at Percy, who looked equally uncomfortable. Only the son of Ares - what was his name, Lowell? - looked indifferent. Maybe that was a reflection on his dad.

Percy led Mitchell and the others to a bank that was shielded from the town by a few dozen trees. The demigods took their masks off gratefully. Percy began to talk into his radio.

"Where did you guys land?" Percy asked as he sat down against a team.

"A hundred meters to your north," came Annabeth's voice. "We see you. We'll hook up with you and try to find to find the others."

"What about you Clarisse?"

"We've met up with the ever-mature Stolls a kilometer south of where you and princess are. Meet up later if you can, Prissy."

Annabeth and her crew came running up. Her group consisted of Will Solace, Malcolm Wright, the Hunter Phoebe, and a son of Hephaestus, Patrick Jennings.

"Ya miss me?" Percy asked Annabeth playfully.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth responded swiftly, but she had a smile on her face. It warmed Mitchell's heart to see them happy, but it also hurt because he thought of his own girlfriend back at Camp. He wondered if he ever see her again.

_Bad Mitchell,_ he chided himself, _You'll get back to Camp._

Mitchell made sure he had a full magazine in his MP5 - good, he'd remembered it's name. Maybe his brain had begun to unscramble. He did have a full magazine loaded. Good. He checked his sidearm. Also full.

"Did you hear from Echo Four?" Percy questioned Annabeth as he topped off his rifle.

"Yeah. The Captain - Dunn, right? - said he landed on the opposite side as us. We'll hit the town from both sides. And remember, Percy, our cover can't be blown." Annabeth reminded her commanding officer as she copied his example and loaded a mag into her M16.

Mitchell fiddled with his helmet. Why did it have the be this heavy? He mentally scolded himself yet again. He couldn't lose focus yet again and get himself killed.

Percy stood up. "You guys see that truck over there?" He pointed to a pickup that was parked on the edge of the village. "That's where we need to get. Use the barrels and fences for cover. Go!"

Mitchell sprinted out into the open and dove behind a barrel. His heart was pounding like a jackhammer as he caught his breath. He squinted at the town, but he couldn't make out much.

Mitchell advanced again. This time he dashed a few hundred meters and then dove behind a small mound of dirt. When he peered over his makeshift cover, he saw that the pickup was only ten meters away.

He glanced at Percy to looked pointedly at the truck. The son of Poseidon nodded and ran for the automobile. Mitchell followed close behind.

Percy took the risk of glancing over the truck. "This isn't good." He murmured as he crouched back down.

Mitchell didn't want to look. "What is it?"

"Got a ton of civilians on the street. The whole town is pretty much just one road, with houses and shops. The SAM is right in the middle of the village." Percy fished out binoculars and shoved them into Mitchell'd hands. "Tell me what you see.

Mitchell put the binoculars to his eyes. "Uh... I got eight soldiers near the SAM. SMGs and rifles."

Percy muttered an Ancient Greek profanity - he was pretty creative in his choice - and cocked his M4. "I think we're through being stealthy. Solomon always does whatever it takes to win. If things go bad - well, don't shoot the innocents. Travis, you in position?"

"Yeah. Ready on your go."

"Dunn?"

"You got it, Jackson."

Mitchell brought his submachine gun to his shoulder. Here we go.

Percy pointed to his girlfriend. "Annabeth, get the civvies out of here."

Annabeth stepped out into the open and cried out in a different language. All of the villagers heard her shout, looked, and then subsequently started screaming and running around like beheaded chickens.

Percy yelled, "Go, go, go!" and soldiers exploded into the village.

Mitchell took cover behind a building on the end of the street. He peeked around the corner and saw Echo Four hit the town to the east. Travis and Clarisse had the west.

The eight guards around the missile site were quickly jarred into action. They were blindly firing, and the sound of gunfire was pounding Mitchell's eardrums.

Mitchell aimed his gun, but the targets were too far away for his submachine gun, which was for close range. He let the designated rifleman and marksmen take out the long rang targets.

He sat tight until Percy yelled, "Move up!"

Mitchell complied and dashed up the street. He settled down behind a car and began to carefully pick off the enemy. Once the eight troopers were down, another ten burst out of a house. Mitchell swore.

"Dunn! You're closest! Get to the SAM!" Percy shouted over the barrage of bullets.

"We're pinned down! They dropped in another unit on us from behind! You have to get to it." Captain Dunn screamed as the sound of rocket fire came over the radio.

"Crap... Conner! Get to the SAM and disarm it. If you can't... go to Plan B." Percy ordered and he reloaded. Mitchell mimicked the action and noticed how much his hands were sweating. "Annabeth, take your five and clear out the buildings. My team, stay back. I got this."

Percy stepped out into the open and began to slowly walk up the street, like he had all the time in the world. Enemy fire seemed to bounce off of him. Mitchell was confused for a second before he thought, _The Curse of Achilles. _That lucky son of a biscuit was practically Superman!

Mitchell watched in a daze as Percy was no longer a soldier, but a weapon of pure destruction. Within a minute, the resistance was down.

"Alright! Conner, get on it! We've got your back. Clarisse and Travis, go give Dunn a hand. Give a shout over the radio if you need help." Percy commanded as he reloaded. Mitchell was amazed at how calmly he was handling the situation.

Mitchell stood there fidgeting and looked over Conner's shoulder as the son of Hermes worked on the SAM. Percy was talking to a soldier Mitchell had never seen before. He realized this must've have been the rent-a-soldier Col. Solomon had acquired to fill out Echo Five - Sergeant Pike. Pike was discussing battle strategy when Mitchell spotted an old-looking revolver on the ground.

Mitchell picked it up uncertainly and looked at it. It had a wooden handle and a long, polished barrel that gleamed in the early sunlight. He checked the chamber. Empty.

He was about to toss back onto the ground when the guy named Lowell saw the gun. "Yo, pretty boy! Lemme see that," he said as he grabbed the firearm from Mitchell. Lowell examined it then whistled. "Nice snag. It's a real Russian revolver - a Nagant."

Mitchell blinked. "You're point?"

Lowell grunted as he shoved the pistol back into Mitchell's hands. "You could sell that for some serious coin. I would keep it around if I were you."

"Why don't you take it yourself?"

"Because I'm not a jerk. Now, ready-up. I see Trav coming. He might be bringing... 'friends', if you catch my meaning."

Mitchell brought his gun to his shoulder. Conner suddenly yelled, "I got it!" as the SAM suddenly began to spark all over. Then it went dark. It was dead.

Travis suddenly burst into view. "A few stragglers, but we got most of them! We lost six from Echo Four! And-"

Suddenly, Mitchell heard a sickening POP. Pike's neck had a bullet in it and he fell to the dirt.

Mitchell was shocked for a second and then came to his senses. He dove to the ground immediately, while Percy shouted, "Travis, how many do you mean by a few?"

"Like, 10..."

Mitchell crawled behind a fence and peeked his head around the corner. Crap, so there was more. As soon as he lifted his gun to his shoulder, he felt an unbearable pain in his lower leg.

He fell to the ground immediately and began to breathe in short, desperate puffs. His chest was screaming for oxygen but it seemed he couldn't intake enough. He writhed in agony and cried out in pain.

Gods, the pain.

The demigod began to scream out his friend's names, yet to know avail. Eventually, his voice gave out and he laid there, silent tears moving down his cheeks. All he heard was gunfire. He touch his leg... yeah, that's a lot of blood.

Mitchell's eyes suddenly focused on a white pebble peppered with red spots. _**That…That pebble is going to be the last thing I ever see…**_The thought hit him like a freight train traveling at ten thousand miles an hour and his heart rate picked up again.

"Mitchell!" Called a far out voice that bounced around in his skull. Mitchell looked weakly to the right and saw a medic from Apollo... Will was his name. Behind Will was Percy.

"C'mon, Mitchell, look me in the eye." Will demanded. He grabbed Mitchell's head and jerked it towards his.

Percy looked over Will's shoulder and held up his head. "Can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?"

Mitchell's blurry eyes came up with four. "Four."

"Good... good." Percy said, looking distracted. "Well... you just got shot."

Mitchell nodded.

Will examined Mitchell's leg, and Mitchell felt a pinch of pain. "There's...a lot of blood..." Mitchell croaked. He tried to raise his arm, but Will lowered it.

"Easy, easy..." Will said as he looked at the wound. He went into a pouch and grabbed first aid. He cleaned out the wound and taped it. "It'll hold for now. Come on, get up."

Percy reached out an arm and yanked Mitchell to his feet. His head spun as he stood up. He saw all the other campers were patiently waiting. "Is he okay?" shouted someone.

Will supported one arm and Mitchell limped on his good leg. By now, the pain was subsiding, and Mitchell could think clearly. "Whaa... what happened?"

Travis walked up to him. "The bad guys are gone. My little brother managed to hack the SAM Turret. We're going home."

"Thank the gods." Thalia grumbled.

"I could go for a pizza right now," Malcolm said as he scratched his hand.

Suddenly a swooping sound could be heard. A cheer went up, and four helicopters dropped down in the square. Will helped Mitchell to the nearest chopper.

Mitchell inched his way onto the seat, he took off his helmet and massaged his temples. As his mom might say, that was one bad first date.

**Sweet baby Jesus, that was a long time... 4 months? Yeah. I'm sorry for that, but I've had a lot of stuff going on and this took awhile to write. Thanks for reading!**

**-TMIB**


	6. The Spark

**"The Spark"**

**May 29 20:32:07**

**Pvt. Mitchell Bell**

**SOG: Team Echo Five**

**Team Echo Base - Location "Prospero"**

Almost the entirety of Echo Five was crowded around a small screen. Percy was staring at it intently while rubbing his temples. Mitchell was gazing over his shoulder at the screen.

Crosshairs on the screen were pointed at three small blinking figures - Will, Thalia, and Phoebe, or the designated sharpshooters for the team. Percy was directing their mission from base via Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) that was hovering up above the area.

The mission was to eliminate the Ukrainian terrorist, Nikolai Symanov. The snipers were in a remote Russian village where Symanov was supposed to be making weapons deal with one of his associates.

Mitchell was fidgeting. He was getting antsy after sitting around in a bed for six weeks. As it turned out that stupid bullet came from a_ very_ big gun. It shattered his bone, which explained his pain. He'd been on crutches since May 26 and he still wasn't allowed to stay on them for long.

Speak of the devil... "Mitchell, you gotta sit down again," came the voice from Jennings, the Hephaestus kid. He had a slightly smashed face after he took the butt of a rifle to his nose in training. His messed up face added to his already broken appearance. Despite not being a Apollo kid, Jennings was a decent medic and had been assigned to watch over Mitchell.

The son of Aphrodite sighed. "Can't you cut me a break, man?"

Jennings, in his never-wavering stony tone of voice, said, "Fine. For the rest of tonight. But tommorow... no walking.'

Mitchell nodded vigorously and once again looked over Percy's shoulder.

A radio was hooked up next to the screen, and the annoying pitter-patter of rain was all that could be heard over the connection. Finally a low voice said, "Percy, you got us?" It was Will.

"Yeah," Percy mumbled. A sudden low storm cloud blocked out the camera. He fiddled with the controls and zoomed in more. "Uh, you see anything? I can't see much with these clouds."

"Uh, guards are everywhere," Thalia said slowly, "Must be Sym's mercenary army."

"What about Symanov?"

"Haven't seem him yet."

The tension in the air was so palpable that a sharpened sword probably couldn't cut it. Even the usually talkative Stolls didn't say anything. Maybe their outgoing side knew to shut up when lives were in danger.

Percy suddenly had a good view of the guards. The figures split up. "Alright, good," Thalia grumbled. "Jackson, they're in three groups now."

"Yeah, I gotcha," Percy said. "Phoebe, Thalia, focus on the group to the right. Take out those three. Will, hang tight."

Over the radio, three bullet sounds were heard. "They're dead," Thalia said, "I don't think any other guards saw."

"Alright. Will, you and Thalia take out the middle group. Phoebe, the left."

_Pew, pew. _"Nice shots," Percy muttered.

"Thanks," Phoebe replied.

Quiet before the storm...

Suddenly, Percy's screen lit up with blips. "Holy crap... Thalia, what's going on? I got tons of people."

"Phoebe, are those... Creole troops?" Thalia asked.

"Looks like it."

"What the hell are they doing?"

Percy began to look frantic. "Thalia, stay calm. Keep an eye on the situation. I'm connecting with Solomon... there. Colonel? We've got CN forces in Russia, at the Symanov attempt."

Silence. Then, "Captain, you got the image? Send it."

"Solomon, we don't have time! What should the snipers do."

Solomon calmly said, "Jackson, you will send me the image. I can't do anything actionable until you do. Do it, now."

"Guys, hang tight," Percy said to his soldiers. He began to pound away on his control pad. "There."

Again, silence. "Okay... yep, that's actionable. Grace, Solace, and Scott, get your asses out of there."

"What about Symanov?" Asked Thalia.

"Forget about the poor bastard. Where's you ride home supposed to be?"

"Uh... a clearing in the woods, about a mile away."

"Leg it over there. I'll send the copter."

"Got it! Let's get out of here!"

"Good luck, you guys," Percy said hoarsely, fearing for his friend's lives.

All of the demigods at base were still in silence. Then Travis broke it. "So... why the heck are the bad guys in Russia?"

No one seemed to have an answer to that.

"Jackson, I got something for you," said a voice who entered the room. Mitchell recognized it as Captain Glasco.

"What?" Percy asked.

Glasco glanced around the room quickly. A look of hesitation crossed his brown eyes. He quickly said, "It's private. Come out to the hallway."

Percy looked at Annabeth, then back at Glasco. "Right," he grumbled as he walked out the door.

Almost as soon as Percy left the room the radio crackled to life. "Percy? The troops opened fire on us!" Came a desperate voice that belonged to Thalia

Annabeth quickly took the horn. "Percy took a leave, Thalia. But you said they're shooting?"

"Yeah! Half of them split off in another direction, the others are still here. The helicopter isn't here!"

Percy burst back into the room. He dashed over to Annabeth. "What's up?"

"The Creoles are firing on them."

"Crap... seriously?"

Annabeth nodded vigorously. Percy opened his mouth to speak when the sound of a machine gun and rotor blades cut him off.

"Annabeth, the chopper's here. We'll be back at base by tomorrow," Phoebe reported.

Annabeth clicked off the radio. She turned around to the crowd and sighed. "Percy, what did Glasco tell you?"

Percy looked at his watch to stall for a bit. He looked at his soldiers and then said, "Okay, fine. You deserve it."

"You bet we do," Lowell grumbled.

Percy glared at him. "Anyway, Glasco talked to McQuarters - apparently those two know eachother well - and McQuarters said that he'd gotten a call from the Russian president."

"So?" asked Chris.

"So, the CN - how did Glasco say McQuarters put it? - 'deliberately attacked the Federation of Russia in a warlike act.' The president of Russia, Markhov, told McQuarters he wasn't sure how long his army could hold off the Creoles.

"So Markhov is more or less is calling on America's help to slow down the attack, just so more Russian units can be trained."

That hit the room. It took a few seconds for Annabeth to say, "That's a terrible idea! The CN would attack the United States in response! They're allied with China, who could come over and kick our butts!"

"Glasco thinks that if Moscow falls, The CN will have access to all of Europe and Asia to attack."

That was a valid point.

"Is there anyway we could help the Russians without inciting an attack? You know, help Russia defeat the CN so that we can go home back to camp and end this stupid... conflict?" Patrick Jennings asked suddenly.

"Hmm... I'm not sure." Annabeth said, while absentmindedly twirling her hair. "I guess it's possible, but..."

Once again, no one answered.

* * *

Mitchell had just gotten up from bed when he heard the news.

He'd just showered, gotten on crutches (even though he technically wasn't supposed to leave bed), and then was on his way to the kitchen so he could get breakfast when he was intercepted by Thalia Grace, who must've gotten back from Russia.

Mitchell had a bit of a crush on her since they'd met... when he was a still a kid. Time had distorted a bit for Mitchell, as everything before he arrived at "Prospero" seemed to have warp from his memory. The Titan War was fading.

But he had crazy fantasies in his dreams about Thalia that probably aren't suitable for young audiences (let's keep it PG).

At the moment Thalia looked like utter crap. Her face displayed sleeplessness and a sort of weariness, like she'd been given an impossible task and had to figure it out. Her hair was frizzy and in all directions.

"Hey, Thalia," he said quickly. He hated how awkward things were between himself and the huntresses.

"Hey, Mitch," she greeted somewhat friendly. But he hated the name, "Mitch". "Have you heard the news yet?"

"No," Mitchell said. Why was he always out of the loop?

"Well, Percy has - wait, aren't you supposed to be off your feet today?" Thalia suddenly asked.

Mitchell dropped his voice low. "Thalia, if you keep this to yourself for now, I'll... I don't know. I'll pay you back, somehow."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just go see the Seaweed Brain."

Mitchell obeyed.

He went to the cafetorium, where he spotted most of Echo 5 and a few only stray soldiers from the other groups. He scanned the crowd. No Jennings. Good.

Mitchell hobbled over towards Percy. "Ah, good. Mitchell, you're here. I was worried I'd have to find you."

"What's this about?"

Percy shook his head subtly, as if to show he didn't he didn't like it, but he spoke anyway.

He rambled for quite a bit, but this is the condensed version.

"So last night, McQuarters got on the phone with French President George Beauchamp, Prime Minister Thomas Lloyd, and German President Anton Amsel about the CN invading Russia. The only thing they agreed on was that they had to do something."

"You don't mean -"

"Not yet," Percy said. "For now, we give the Russians lots of weapons and pray. Our side builds defense, then we go to Russia and bust some heads."

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Mitchell asked.

Percy looked down. "A lot of SOG will be there. That includes us. We'll be shipped out there in July."

Mitchell let that soak in. "So, what about my leg?"

Percy looked at it. Then he looked back at Mitchell, with a slight look of apprehension. "It'll heal fine. Will thinks you'll be back on your feet in 3 weeks max. We'll need every man we can get, okay?"

Mitchell nodded, and then hobbled away. Russia, hmm? Wonder what the weather is like over there.


	7. Mest Nyet

**"Mest Nyet"**

**June 27 18:09:01**

**Pvt. Mitchell Bell**

**SOG: Team Echo Five (Redirected to SVRF or Russian Ground Forces)**

**Team Echo Base - "Prospero"**

Mitchell was tired.

He hadn't attended school in years, so this was a bit of a change-up for him. Well it wasn't school, but it was pretty darn close.

As part of the assimilation-thingy NATO was attempting with Russia, most soldiers who were heading to Eastern Europe had to learn Russian.

That may been fine and dandy for the Brits, the French, and the Germans, most of whom knew many languages, but for Americans it was absolutely hell. Mitchell was the only one in the base who was bilingual in modern language, because all children of Aphrodite can speak French. Whoop-dee-do.

Mitchell had heard the term "Ignorant American" before, but now he got it. It hurt his head to think in something that wasn't American English.

At the moment, a guy named named Alexei was writing Russian phrases on the board. Mitchell had picked up fragments, like how _da _was yes, and that _nyet _was no, and _Gde zdes tualet? _was 'Where is the bathroom?'

Right now, Alexei was writing the phrase _Kak eto shazat po Angliysky, _which meant 'How do you say this in English?', so Mitchell listened. This could actually be useful.

He'd finally walked with out aid a week ago and could now comfortably run or sprint. Thank god, he was getting tired of sitting around (who ever thought a son of Aphrodite would say that?).

Alexei looked back at his pupils. When it was clear no one was interested, he sighed. "_Spasibo_**[1]**,soldiers. Go."

The demigods began to chatter as they exited. It more or lessened when Annabeth shouted, "Shut up! You have training to do, get to the range. Move it!"

Mitchell groaned. Training sucked, especially since Annabeth had officially been promoted to drill sergeant. A colorful mixture of Ancient Greek and English cuss words had been permanently engraved into Mitchell's vocabulary as a result.

Mitchell trudged through training. It was pretty ho-hum in terms of military training, which in other words meant that it was awful, but not unbearable. It made Mitchell sore nonetheless.

After training, it was the usual. Mitchell could do whatever he wanted for the rest of the day, basically. Right now, he needed an ice bath badly. He was on his way to the infirmary when the Russians showed up.

The unmistakable swooping of helicopter wings was heard before the vehicles were seen. 3 helicopters were flying into the base. A dozen Humvees came in through a gate, noticeably full of soldiers. Mitchell dashed to the scene, eager to see his new "friends". Turns out, almost all of Echo had turned up.

The choppers split off to scattered pads around the base, and the transports stopped and a man hopped out of the lead vehicle. He was elderly; most likely in his sixties. He had a gray mustache and thinning hair.

Solomon materialized out of nowhere to greet the man. "_Polkovnik_ Borovsky!" He cried.

The two men embraced in one of those awkward guy hugs men tend to have. "Colonel Solomon." The Russian said.

Borovsky turned to the SOG troops. "Americans," he said, "You know why we are here. We need help defending our home. We heard that you are the best in the world."

_"Byk." _One of the Russians scoffed.

_"Zhatknis!"_ Another one hissed back at him.

Borovsky didn't notice, so he kept on rolling. "The Creoles are making swift movements. We predict they'll arrive in Moscow within 2 months, at the most. So my soldiers will be training with you for a few weeks so they're ready when the time comes to defend our capitol. Understand?"

Grumbles of assent rolled.

_"Horosho. _ Colonel, if you will."

"Alright! When I call out your names, my guys take your trainee and set them up in your barrack. You each should have an extra cot in each. You're to help them get accustomed to fighting. Got it?"

Solomon barked out groups of names - one American, one Russian - and those pairings were the training teams for the few weeks. Mitchell prayed silently that he got a decent partner.

Eventually, his name rolled around. "Bell, Mitchell with Lubov, Svetlana."

Mitchell stepped out uncertainly to meet his partner. His counterpart did the same.

First of all, it turned out, Svetlana was a girl's name. She looked about Mitchell's age. She was tall - very tall, at least as tall as Mitchell. She had brown hair in a bun and a scowling face that had dirt smeared on it. She was very thin as well. She wore Russian fatigues and carried a duffel bag in her hand.

Mitchell thought she looked pretty good (hey, he was a man - he noticed these things), but he did what Solomon told him to do. He led Svetlana to his room without a word passed between them.

When the two finally reached his room, Mitchell turned around for a messy introduction. "Um..._Vy goverite_ _po Angliysky?"_

_"Da. _Yes I do." Svetlana replied in a thick accent.

Mitchell smiled. "Good. That saves me mental pain."

The Russian girl sat in a chair near the door. An awkward silence grew between them.

"Just out of curiosity, why did you join up?" Mitchell decided on asking.

Svetlana looked at him with a pained look on her face. "When the Creoles invaded the West... they raided my village. Broke into my home. _Mat..._how would you say... mother told me to hide under my bed. She said what they would do to a young girl was unspeakable.

"I left the bed 8 hours later and when I checked my home, Mother and Father were gone."

Mitchell let that soak in. "Wow... I don't know what to say."

"And you, Me-Chail?" Svetlana asked, butchering Mitchell's name.

How to answer this? He couldn't tell this girl that he was demigod - she'd condemn him as a lunatic. That would be bad.

"A bunch of my friends joined, so I just went along with them," Mitchell settled for, looking at his feet.

Another silence rolled over them.

"When do we start to train?" Svetlana asked.

Mitchell replied. "Tomorrow. Other than training and meals, we can more or less do anything we want. Right now... I need an ice bath. You can stay and get settled if you want."

Svetlana gave him a blank look. "_Polkovnik_ Solomon said there would be -"

_"Polkovnik? _We say 'Colonel'."

"Colonel... yes. I will remember that. Moreover, your room is missing a an extra bed."

Mitchell reddened slightly. "I'll figure it out when I get back, okay?. I too tired to think straight right now."

"O-K? What does that mean?"

"Oh. Uh... it means all right."

"I will remember that too."

"Now, where was I going... oh, yeah. to the infirmary. I'll be back in awhile, all right?"

"Okay, Me-chail."

* * *

The ice bath hit the spot. All the aches went away. Mitchell headed back to his room, freezing cold yet feeling content.

He reached his barrack, and fumbled around with the key until the tumblers gave way and the door unlocked. The son of Aphrodite, however, forget to knock.

If the brief second before he slammed his eyes shut, he'd seen Svetlana naked.

"Gah!" Mitchell stumbled, still covering his eyes, because he was a proper gentleman (not).

"Sorry! Sorry..." Svetlana apologized, "I was changing my clothes."

Mitchell continued to cover his eyes while Svetlana rushed around, trying to get clothed.

"You can open now," she offered.

Mitchell did so. His roommate was under the covers of his bed.

"Why..."

"I forgot where I left my clothes."

"Oh..."

Mitchell rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "So you can have the bed tonight."

"Y-y-you can have it." Svetlana stuttered, covering herself awkwardly with Mitchell's sheets.

"No, it's fine. Really, it is. I can sleep on the floor." Mitchell insisted, being all chivalrous.

The Russian girl nodded somewhat hesitantly and turned over. Mitchell curled up on the floor. He thought about everything that happened today. It had somehow ended up with a naked Eastern European sleeping in his bed.

Well, that wasn't too bad, he supposed.

* * *

**[1] (I'll put all the translations here)**

**Spasibo - Thank you**

**Polkovnik - Colonel**

**Byk - Bull**

**Zhatknis - Shut up**

**Horosho - Good**

**Vy goverite po Angliysky - Do you speak English?**

**Mat - Mother**

**Mest Nyet - No Vacancies**

**_Now for the long AN..._**

**_The way I see it, the introduction of my story is done. Yes, it was long, but I got everything I wanted to get in before the story really took off. This was another filler chapter unfortunately, but I wanted to introduce Svetlana. (NOTE: I _DON'T _PLAN TO MAKE SVETLANA AND MITCHELL A COUPLE. I THINK SHE'S A SOLID SUPPORTING CHARACTER)._**

**_The next chapter will mark the start of WWIII. Yes. _**

**_Depressing, isn't it? Anyway, if you want to submit any mortals for this story (Either British, American, French, German, or Russian), I'll threw 'em into the story._**

**_-TMIB_**


	8. The Battle for St Petersburg

_Update - 8/9 - UPDATED AUTHOR'S NOTE_

**The Battle for Saint Petersburg**

**July 29 01:23:00**

**Pvt. Mitchell Bell**

**SOG/SVRF: Team Sapphire**

**Gulf of Finland - 12 miles from St. Petersburg, Russia**

Mitchell was shaking.

The Chinook helicopter was dark and stuffy inside, so it wasn't the temperature. It was the feeling of what was about to happen that scared him.

In one minute, "Operation Vulcan" would begin. The combined forces of the United States, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, and France would invade CN occupied Russia. Russia and America would enter in through the Gulf of Finland to St. Petersburg, where they would crush opposition there and set up defense lines for Moscow. British, German, and French forces would go in through the Barents sea and set up defenses to the South and to the East.

Mitchell felt like he should learning about this in his history class. He constantly had to remind himself that he as going to fight in this invasion - the one that would inevitably start WWIII.

In a way, the demigods had failed. They hadn't prevented the war. Just don't tell that to Percy.

Percy was pacing back and forth nervously in whatever little room he had in the boat. He was muttering to himself, and was wound up like a coil.

The boat the 10 foot soldiers were (inside the helicopter) was relatively small. The Chinook helicopter would drop them off in the water, where the driver of the boat would navigate it to Saint Pete.

The Americans in the boat with Mitchell was Percy, Pollux, the son of Hercules Marcus Derringer (whom Mitchell couldn't stand), and a woman named Jennifer Niedermayer. She was an Echo Two soldier normally, but inside of making a poor Army kid fight with the demigods, they had transferred Niedermayer to Echo Five.

The Russians in the boat were Chernovsky, Percy's counterpart, three guys named Koslov, Mikchenko, and Federov. And Svetlana, of course.

Mitchell was deep in discussion with her at the moment. They'd become pretty good friend in 2 weeks, and they could now have normal conversations.

Svetlana looked calm and confident, in her green camouflage Russian Army uniform that she'd cut off at her elbows. Her face was covered in it's usual dirt, and she held an AK-12 in her arms. In a brief amount of time, she'd proven herself to be good shooter.

Mitchell himself was in his strange tan and black SOG ensemble, with a Belgian FN FNC in his hands. He had a sword strapped to his back, which had become standard issue for Team Echo (I wonder why?). It was a modern design though (similar to a machete), not Greek. He also had a pistol - the Russian revolver he'd picked up awhile ago - strapped to his side.

Svetlana was in the middle of telling a story about her and her Dad's hunting trips in the woods around her house. It was actually pretty interesting, but Percy went and ruined.

"Okay, guys... we're out of here in 10 seconds. Get ready." he said, fastening his helmet.

Svetlana looked at Mitchell and then grinned. "Ready to make history, Me-Chail?"

Mitchell still hadn't corrected Svetlana on his name. He couldn't find the heart to, somehow. _"Da." _Mitchell responded, smiling slightly. Then remembered that the chances of both of them surviving the entire European campaign was slim to none... ah well. You only live once.

The Chinook openedr, and the boat dropped down.

It landed into the water with a splash. That didn't make a difference, though. Cold rain was pounding down. But Mitchell didn't notice this until a few seconds later, because of the site.

Boats and attack helicopter and destroyers and weapons were everywhere, even apparent in the dark. The son of Aphrodite couldn't believe it. The Allies were kickin' down the door. He mindlessly slipped on his flak jacket and his utility vest, helping Svetlana with her's as she had never done it before.

"Alright, Solomon, we're in the drink. Now what?" Percy asked his radio.

A short buzz of static followed. Then, "Okay. When you get to Saint Pete, take your 5 guys and clear out the National Library. Chernovsky, have your guys and take back the Trinity Bridge. Attack from the Suvorovskaya Square. Afterwards leg it over to Catherine's Palace and meet up. Got it?"

"Gotcha, Solomon. We're on it."

Chernovsky straightened up and looked at Svetlana and Mitchell, who had begun talking again. Chernovsky hissed something at Svetlana in Russian. The only part Mitchell recognized was _Angliysky._

Whatever he said was pretty strong, because Svetlana reddened and took a step away from Mitchell. He was about say something when Percy interrupted.

"Solomon, what's going on at home?"

"The National Guard is evacuating people out of Western cities and setting up defenses to the east. We're ready for defense."

"Good." Percy turned back to his soldiers. "You guys all ready?"

A chorus of "yes" and "da" responded, with the rain pounding down as background noise. Mitchell wiped a mixture of rain and seawater out of his eyes as the boat continued to chug towards the coast.

Mitchell looked to the right. He saw 4 other marinecraft that was identical to the one he was in. He knew the rest of his fellow demigods were in those boats.

After a tense minute of silence, St. Petersburg came into view.

Some of the lights in the city were still on. Some of the more iconic buildings on the skyline remained intact. But even through rain and darkness Mitchell could could see that a lot of building were bombed out and destroyed. He couldn't tell if that was the damage the CN Army had done when they invaded or American guns. He prayed it wasn't the second.

Mitchell's radio crackled to life. "To all Spec Ops or SVRF troops, the US Army is already on land. I repeat, you need to watch your fire."

Mitchell could now see the beach they would land on. Gunfire had torn it up. He turned uncertainly towards Svetlana. What was he to say? Goodbye?

He grabbed Svetlana's arm. "Good luck," he said.

Svetlana nodded. "To you as well."

The boat landed.

The ramp dropped, and the ten soldiers dashed out of the boat and on to the trash-littered, bullet-peppered beach. Mitchell ducked a few bullets as he dashed for cover behind a fallen tree.

He peaked his head over the trunk. Closer to the grassline, a group from the US Army was pinned down. Mitchell decided to take his chances and run up with them. He moved up toward the Army men, and it seemed like the rest of his team had the same idea.

"What's happening?" Mitchell asked one of the Army Privates.

The Private grimaced. He might've been 17. "They're dug into the ground. We can't move up."

Mitchell called to Percy, "Percy! Do your Achilles thing."

Percy beat him to the idea. He turned the corner of the cover he had and was instantly shot. But instead of the bullet bouncing off of him, in sunk into his flesh.

Percy immediately swore and crawled back behind cover. Mitchell cursed as well and decided it was worth the risk to go and see how bad the wound was. He moved up and said to Percy, "Damn, I'm sorry!"

"I'm okay," Percy said, though he winced. He picked up his dropped rifle. "I don't know what the hell happened though. I just got clipped, that's all." He glanced up at the sky, which was pitch dark. "Never mind! Let's go, no slacking! SOG, grenades out!"

* * *

**July 28 05:58:45**

**Somewhere in St. Petersburg, Russia**

The rain continued to pound.

Mitchell once again wiped his eyes while undercover. It was to get the frigid rainwater out of his eyes and to keep himself awake.

For 4 long hours, the invasion had continued. Mitchell's team had the delightful task of slowly carving through the streets of downtown Saint Pete. Every block the enemy had dug in and entrenched, so the annoying task of coaxing them out of the trenches commenced.

You'd think the freezing rain would keep you on your toes, but the rhythmic pounding worked almost as a lullaby to the restless Mitchell, who was exhausted from lack of sleep the night before.

But here they were. The National Library of Russia was in view, right in front of him. Now... to clear it. Why did he even raise his hand for this job anyway? Delusions of heroism?

He was so wrapped up in his soliloquy that he almost didn't hear Percy say, "Move into the building!"

Mitchell obliged and trudged up to the building. There wasn't any resistance to enter the lobby, which seemed a bit off. Jen Niedermayer and Percy instructed the team to search every corner of the building - if they didn't do it, Solomon would chew them out.

Mitchell, meantime, was rummaging around the building trying to scavenge ammunition. He wasn't having any luck.

The rest of the building was pretty barren, besides a lot of books. The books were (quite predictably) all in Russian, so Mitchell couldn't read any of them (not that they'd be interesting anyway).

The group was going up another flight of stairs when Mitchell asked, "Why were we told to clear out the building if no bad guys are in it?"

Percy froze. "I don't know, Mitchell. But if we don't do what he says, we'll get yelled at."

"And you're scared of getting yelled at?" Marcus mumbled.

Jen glared at him. "No, he's doing what he's told. Now shut your mouth and watch your corners."

After another short silence, Pollux muttered, "So how you holding up, Mitchell?"

Mitchell looked at his fellow demigod, "Pretty well, other than a few scrapes. You?

The Dionysus spawn glanced at his arm. "I got grazed by something a few blocks ago, but the pain is gone." He rubbed the shot in such a way that showed the pain was definitely _not _gone, but he didn't complain. "So how about that Russian girl?" He suddenly asked.

"Oh, Svetlana? Nah, we're not like that."

Pollux just looked at him. "What, you automatically assume I like her? I am freaking offended." Mitchell said, half-jokingly.

"Well, she _is_ nice to look at and-"

"Hey," Mitchell said, cutting him off, "I'm trying not to die here. I'll focus on other things later."

"You two, shh..." Percy said, as he clicked on his radio. "Annabeth? How are you guys doing?"

"We've cleared the Hermitage. Calvin Miller got hit twice, but he'll be okay. We're meeting up with our Russians at the Palace. You?"

"We've been told to clear out the National Library, but it's empty. And same about the Palace."

"Alright, Percy. Stay safe."

"You too."

Percy sighed, as he clicked his radio to a different channel. "Travis, you okay?"

"Yeah. Me and Butch were both hit, but we're alive. Oh, and we've nearly blown ourselves up a few times."

"What did you do?"

"...Shot a few packages of explosives we found."

"You idiots."

"Hey! We're just trying to keep it light."

"Gah, whatever." Percy once again changed networks. "Mikhail, are you on the bridge?"

Mitchell was confused who Mikhail was until he heard the voice. "Yes, but we still have some to go. We've lost Koslov." The voice belonged to Chernovsky.

Pollux suddenly turned pale. "Oh, man. I'm sorry to hear that." Percy muttered to Chernovsky.

Mitchell glanced at Pollux, who looked uneasy. "He was your roomie, wasn't he?"

Pollux nodded slightly. "I-It's fine."

Percy pointed to a flight of stairs. "Come on. We're nearly to the roof. Then we can get some rest."

"Thank gods," Mitchell said to himself.

Jen opened the door to the roof.

The five soldiers stepped onto the roof of the library. The sun was trying to peek through the heavy clouds, but it couldn't seem to. The rain (which kept pounding) had collected into deep puddles.

"Man," Marcus said, "I don't know if climbing up a million flights of stairs or freezing my ass in this storm is worse." A silent agreement between all of the people on the rooftop occurred.

But of course, the victory was short lived.

An explosion boomed out from underneath them that shook the structure. "Aw, crap!" Mitchell said as the floor rumbled.

Percy quickly looked over the edge of the building. "Too far to jump. Come on, let's get out of here the way we came."

Another explosion rang out. "But if we go down there, we'll die!" Pollux protested.

"You wanna jump off the side? Come on. We don't have a choice!"

The team dashed towards the elevator and dove in it. Percy mashed a button to the ground floor, and the contraption shot down. "What the hell was that?!" Marcus demanded.

"The CN must have rigged the building to blow. Godammit!... SOLOMON!" Percy shouted the last part as he turned his radio to the main base channel.

"Jackson, calm down. What's the situation on the Library?"

"It's filled with bombs. The buildings gonna come down on us."

The channel went static for a second as the elevator lurched. "There's nothing I can do for you, Jackson. You've to get out of there. Solomon out."

Percy looked back at the soldiers under his control. "Alright. This thing isn't gonna last to the lobby. We gotta jump out on the next floor." Percy smashed another button on the elevator. The doors opened to the 4th floor. The view was disturbing.

The floor gaped open and sunk in all over the place. Pieces of paper and wood were everywhere - the ruins of the Great Library. What was left of the roof

Percy cursed. "We're gonna have to go through the -" - another explosion - "- floor."

Mitchell fell through the floor the lower story with all the others. The floor creaked underneath them dangerously. Then it collapsed.

The marble disintegrated into shards and fell through. Mitchell land on his shoulder, which screamed with pain. His vision began to fade as he tried to stand. Jen quickly grabbed Mitchell's good arm. "Come on, we aren't dying here, kid!" She said as she led him through the wreckage.

The floors above began to collapse, along with the walls. "The building..." Mitchell said while gasping.

Then Jen pointed to the window and it went black.

* * *

Mitchell struggled to sit up. The cot he was in was stiff and uncomfortable. As soon as he moved though pain shot through his body, so he slunk back down. He opened his eyes.

He was in a makeshift medical tent of some sort, and a nurse was rushing about. She noticed he had moved and said something in Russian and rushed over to Mitchell. "How do you feel?" She asked in a thick accent that was hard to discern.

"I'm alright." Mitchell replied, even though he wasn't. Then he quickly added, "Where am I?"

"Catherine's Palace. A young woman brought you to me - I think her name was Jane-ee-ferr. She said you were nearly killed when the library came down."

Mitchell sat up, ignoring the pain. "I have to go," he said quickly.

The nurse tried to protest, but Mitchell left the tent.

* * *

_**So it's another AN. A miracle!**_

_**Sorry for the annoying amount of time it took to get this up, but I experienced an awful case of writer's block about halfway through this chapter. It was also easily the hardest to write - it took me awhile to fine tune the action scenes.**_

_**Anyway, I'd like to make an edit to my previous AN. I mentioned that I didn't plan to make Svetlana and Mitchell a pairing. I'd like to revise that and say that it's a 50-50 shot I make them a pairing, as my plans for this story have changed slightly. **_

_**But Mitchell as a character goes through a lot of different phases as this story. In the first six chapters, Mitchell is (still, for the most part) an unprepared, frightened son of Aphrodite. At this point, he begins to get braver and more battle-hardened.**_

_**And I'd like to extend my offer that if you have any mortal NPCs (British, Russian, German, French, or American) I'll try to fit them at some point drinhe story.**_

_**-TMIB**_

_**UPDATE: I REMOVED THE ACHILLES CURSE FROM PERCY. I'm gonna be honest, I shouldn't've given him that ability in Bad First Date to begin with. It'd be silly for him to be able to go all godlike 24/7. It'll be explained what happened to the curse later on.**_


	9. Heavy Rain

**Heavy Rain**

**July 30 6:58:01**

**Pvt. Mitchell Bell**

**SOG/SVRF: Team Sapphire**

**Catherine's Palace, Pushkin, Russia**

The first thing Mitchell noticed outside was that the rain was still falling.

If possible, it was even raining harder than before. The clouds were nearly black and insanely low. He wondered if Zeus had anything to do with that. But then he noticed his surroundings.

A few dozen tents were pitched in the courtyard of an _enormous _palace. The palace was white marble with pastel panels and stretched around the courtyard. It was one of the most beautiful structures Mitchell had ever seen. The tents were bustling with nurses and soldiers - a mixture of SOG and regular Russian and American troops. A few ponds and fountains were mixed in.

"Hey, Mitchell! Over here!" Came a voice to his left. He recognized it to be Percy.

He turned and saw Percy, Annabeth, Jen, Thalia, and Captain Glasco under a tent, leaning against some crates. He wondered what business they could have for him.

"What's up?" he asked as he joined the group.

"You alright, man?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Mitchell replied, lying through his teeth as his body ached everywhere.

"I'm sorry for what happened in the Library. Me, Marcus, and Pollux went ahead because we though you guys were following us. Jen saw you, and..." he paused for a second "... managed to get you both you and her out through a window. The building collapsed a few seconds after we got out of the entrance, and... we throught you guys didn't make it."

Mitchell looked at Jen. "I don't know what to say -"

"It's fine. It really is." She said quickly.

"We thought you dead until she showed up at the Palace, lugging you along." Percy finished.

"What'd I hurt?" Mitchell asked Jen.

"Dislocated shoulder, and a bonk on the head. That's what made you pass out. Oh, and you took a few metal shards to you chest."

Mitchell nodded slowly. "Dang, I don't if I'm lucky or unlucky."

"Take it as 'lucky'." Annabeth responded. She had her left arm snaked around Percy's waist and her hair was in it's usual ponytail. The only difference in her appearance was a bandage that wrapped around her right forearm. Mitchell wondered how she hurt it. "A lot of our demigods will be training or running later, but I'll give you the day off."

"Thank you," Mitchell said gratefully.

Thalia also had various bandages on her, but nothing seemed to be seriously injured. Glasco looked scraped up as well, but he probably couldn't even count the amount of times he'd been shot. It was most likely nothing to him.

"Glasco, where are we going next?" Percy asked.

Glasco closed his eyes, trying to remember, "Percy, I'm pretty sure you and your team are going to Kirishi, which is south, and then to Tver. I think you're leaving in 2 or 3 days."

"Eventually to Moscow, right?"

"Yeah."

Mitchell shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Um, am I dismissed?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Percy said, "There's food in the main hall if you're hungry, and I'd imagine you are. It's through that door and to the left." He finished the last part while pointing to an entrance into the palace. "Me and Thalia will probably be right behind you."

Mitchell honestly wasn't that hungry. He'd always been one of those people who could live off a piece of lettuce for 3 days, but he hadn't eaten in a day and a half, so it would probably be a good idea.

He headed into the palace and turned left as instructed. The hall was, indeed, full of soldiers who were chowing down on the crappy, Army-grade breakfast. Mitchell sighed and grabbed a tray. He picked up oatmeal and orange juice and tried to figure out a place to sit. He frowned, this situation reminding him waaaaay too much of middle school drama.

He finally spotted Svetlana sitting it the corner with someone else that Mitchell didn't recognize. That seemed nice enough, so Mitchell decided to head over there. He slid into the booth saying, "Hi, Svetlana. How's it going?"

She looked up. "Oh! Hello, Me-chail." She mixed her oatmeal. "Mikhail said you were injured in Saint Petersburg... is it true?"

Mitchell nodded. "You know how the library collapsed?"

"Da."

"Well, my team was in there, and I fell through the floor. Hurt my head and my shoulder." Mitchell couldn't but chuckle. "I have the worst luck ever. How about you?"

Svetlana rubbed her shoulder. "Hit with bullet here. No damage though, just sore."

Mitchell nodded then looked to the guy on her right. His face seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Then it clicked - it was one of the Russian guys on their team... Federov. That was it. He had back hair that was buzzed and strange eyes - kind of like the eyes of a newborn baby.

Mitchell raised his hand in greeting. Federov mimicked it.

The son of Aphrodite continued to eat his lumpy oatmeal in an awkward silence that none of the soldiers at the table seemed to be able to break. Federov excused himself after about 5 minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"So where are you guys going next?" Mitchell asked once he estimated Federov was out of earshot.

Svetlana sighed, then flipped her hair from her right shoulder to her left. Another side effect of being a child of Aphrodite was noticing small body language like that. "Kirishi, then Tver. And you?"

"Same thing." Mitchell took a swig from his orange juice. He was about to say something else when a voice called out, "Hey, Mitch! Over here! We got a game of poker going! Want in?"

Mitchell hated the name "Mitch". He turned to Svetlana. "I'm gonna go over there. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yes."

He headed over to the table that the voice came from and sat down. Six other demigods were at the table - Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Travis, Conner, and Chris. Mitchell sat down uneasily. "Alright! You know how to play Five Card Draw, right?" Travis asked, shuffling the cars.

"Yeah," Mitchell said. "No money?"

"Nope. No one has any, so..." Percy shrugged. Travis tossed 5 cards at everyone. Thalia glanced at hers and then slammed her fist into the table. "Damn," she muttered. Mitchell knew she was bluffing. He'd been taught this game by his father, who was the best player Mitchell knew. He'd taught his son all the tricks. Mitchell was disheartened when he saw that his own hand was pretty bad. Nothing was usable. Mitchell threw 3 of spades and 5 of diamonds on the table. He saw the other demigods place down too - Travis 1, Conner 3, Thalia 1, Percy 2, Chris 2, and Annabeth didn't put anything down. She must have been cocky. Travis dealt them all new cards to replace the old ones.

Mitchell looked at his finished hand. King Diamond and Kind Spade were a pair - but that was it. Annabeth put down her cards triumphantly. "Three aces." She said joyously as she tipped her chair back a bit. "Let's see how bad I trumped you all."

Mitchell put down his cards. "One pair. King."

Travis: "High, 9."

Conner: "Straight, 8-4."

Percy sighed. "You got lucky, Annabeth. I got a full boat - 3 7s, 2 5s."

Chris slammed down his cards. "One pair, 6."

All eyes fell to the girl who hadn't yet shown her cards. Thalia said in a faked depressed tone, "Royal flush."

The tipped chair that Annabeth was in fell backwards. Percy threw his hands into the air. "Why do I even bother playing with you? Every time I play, it's always the same exact ending." As an afterthought, he glanced at his girlfriend, who was still on the floor. "You okay down there, Wise Girl?"

All Annabeth did was groan as she got back to her feet slowly. "How in Hades do you do that?" She demanded Thalia.

Thalia only smiled coyly. "I'm just... magical."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know, I'm just... magical." Thalia repeated as she shuffled the deck. "I'm going to try and find Phoebe. See you card sharks later." She turned and walked off.

Annabeth looked at everyone at the table. She still seemed a bit shell-shocked over her defeat. "I need to get you guys training." She muttered. "I'll go get a run going outside towards the woods. I expect to see you all there. 10 minutes." She walked off.

Travis put his face in his hands. "I ever tell you how much I hate your girlfriend, Percy?"

"About a million times. Normally before training, as a matter of fact."

"Well, that doesn't change the fact. C'mon Conner, let'd go hide."

That left Mitchell, Percy and Chris. Chris looked at his watch. Apparently it bothered him. "I, uh, have to go the medic tent."

Chris left, leaving only Mitchell and Percy. "Alright, good. I've been meaning to talk to you alone for you all day." Percy said.

Mitchell frowned. "Why?"

"You're the only one who saw me get shot," Percy said as he rolled up his right sleeve which showed two wounds wrapped in gauze. Ambrosia and Nectar were in short supply, so the demigods had to make do with mortal medicine supplies. "I want to keep it a secret. Until I figure out how I lost the Curse."

"So I shouldn't tell anyone?"

"No. Please don't," Percy confirmed, rubbing his arm. "Keep it to yourself. If Annabeth finds out, she'll freak out. I want her to have clear head. If... ah, never mind. I should go and make sure Annabeth doesn't kill everyone, okay? If someone asks you why you aren't training tell them I pardoned you, okay?"

Mitchell and leaned back. He looked back at Svetlana. He smiled slightly and headed back over to her.


End file.
